Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Kanawha County, WV

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 75.7 Relatively High

176,537
Population
32
Departments
65
Stations
57
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.93
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 55
Life Safety per 100k
0.53
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
22nd highest of 55
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$130.2M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
1st highest of 55
Property Loss per Resident
$738
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
11th highest of 55

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Kanawha County, the largest single contributor is Inland Flooding, 47% of the life-safety total.

Kanawha County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $130.2M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 55 West Virginia counties. Nationally, Kanawha County ranks 627th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2496th for life safety per 100k residents, 160th for property loss, and 323rd for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Kanawha County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Kanawha County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

91%
9%
Property (buildings): $130.2M (91.1%)
Life safety: $12.8M (8.9%)
Agriculture: $13K (0.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $143,012,617 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$6.0M
Heat Wave
$3.1M
Lightning
$1.1M
Strong Wind
$930K
Cold Wave
$382K
Earthquake
$274K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$126.6M
Earthquake
$830K
Strong Wind
$746K
Hail
$714K
Tornado
$364K
Ice Storm
$322K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Kanawha County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

19%
75%
Career: 6% (2)
Combination: 19% (6)
Volunteer: 75% (24)
Residents per Station
2,716
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
36.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 32 departments registered in NERIS Public for Kanawha County, WV. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Kanawha County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 32 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Frame Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 35,132 $3.0M Relatively High 1
Charleston Fire Department 48,283 $2.9M Relatively High 9
Hurricane Volunteer Fire Department 36,322 $2.4M Relatively High 2
Sissonville Fire Department, Inc. 30,530 $2.1M Relatively High 3
Route 34 Volunteer Fire Department 23,924 $1.5M Very High 2
Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department 27,109 $1.4M Relatively High 2
Clendenin Volunteer Fire Department 18,608 $1.4M Very High 1
Montgomery Fire Department 10,931 $1.2M Very High 1
Dunbar Fire Department 15,874 $1.2M Relatively High 4
Malden Volunteer Fire Department Inc. 11,327 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Tyler Mountain Volunteer Fire Department 20,417 $1.1M Relatively High 1
Cabin Creek Volunteer Fire Department 8,215 $1.0M Very High 1
West Side Volunteer Fire Department 14,157 $985.0K Relatively High 1
Alum Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. 9,575 $974.9K Very High 3
Belle Fire Department 8,589 $972.3K Very High 2
Marmet Fire Department 10,036 $911.3K Relatively High 1
Pinch Volunteer Fire Department 13,548 $858.5K Very High 2
Nitro Fire Department 11,771 $824.5K Very High 2
South Charleston Fire Department 13,268 $771.4K Very High 10
Loudendale Volunteer Fire Department 9,043 $704.9K Very High 1
Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department 10,858 $701.2K Very High 1
Westside Volunteer Fire Department Inc. #2 6,852 $686.3K Very High 1
Chesapeake Volunteer Fire Department 4,684 $599.7K Very High 2
East Bank Volunteer Fire Department 4,684 $599.7K Very High 2
Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department 5,623 $440.5K Relatively High 1
Cedar Grove Volunteer Fire Department 4,016 $424.7K Very High 1
Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department 4,016 $424.7K Very High 1
Handley Community Volunteer Fire Department 3,531 $413.3K Very High 1
Pratt Community Volunteer Fire Department 3,531 $413.3K Very High 1
Saint Albans Fire Department 5,514 $287.7K Relatively High 2
Institute Volunteer Fire Department 4,354 $246.0K Relatively High 1
Rand Volunteer Fire Department 576 $49.5K Very High 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

15.7%
Poverty Rate
22.1%
Age 65+
19.6%
Disability Rate
4.9%
Uninsured
70.0%
Pre-1980 Housing
9.5%
Mobile Homes
15.4%
Vacancy Rate
1.3%
Wood Heat
$63,809
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

8
Last 10 Years
25
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

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